


twice orphaned, thrice shy

by KathrynShadow



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Background Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Feelings, Gen, Katarina is bad at coping with orphanhood, Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-22 08:06:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2500643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KathrynShadow/pseuds/KathrynShadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Talon looks at the papers on the desk, the ink faded now. He looks at the layer of dust on the cover of the bed. He understands.</p>
<p>It’s their third birthday without the General, and it’s the day Katarina gives up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	twice orphaned, thrice shy

**Author's Note:**

> I have this headcanon that younger!Kat was absolutely appalled that Talon didn't know his birthday, so she gave him hers. Even though he didn't particularly care.

Katarina doesn’t make herself easy to find. Talon almost steps on her before he sees her; she’s curled up, sitting on the floor between the General’s bed and his desk. Her knees are drawn up to her chest, arms looped around them; the curtain of her red hair hangs loose around her face, but it’s clear nonetheless that she’s been crying.

Talon looks at the papers on the desk, the ink faded now. He looks at the layer of dust on the cover of the bed. He understands.

It’s their third birthday without the General, and it’s the day Katarina gives up.

He sits down next to her and says nothing. She’s motionless; Talon would think that she hadn’t even noticed his presence if he didn’t know her better than that.

Through the shuttered window, a blackbird squawks its discontent. Katarina sniffles–the first sound she’s made since Talon opened the door.

“Do you think there’s anything left to find?” she asks. Her voice breaks. Talon fights the urge to run.

Should he lie? She would know if he did. “…no,” he admits. It’s the first time he’s said as much out loud. His skin prickles. Just giving voice to his disbelief feels like a betrayal.

Katarina’s shoulders tremble, almost imperceptibly. Her voice is too steady when she speaks. “When will you be leaving?”

What? “I’m not,” he answers, puzzled. Why would he? Where would he go, anyway? House du Couteau was always his last chance for... anything. Surely she knows that much, or can figure it out if she thinks on it.

She huffs a parody of a laugh, tilting her head back to lean it against the wall. She stares at the ceiling, her eyes red-rimmed and empty. “Don’t pretend with me,” she says. “You followed Papa, not me. I’ve never come close to beating you in a fair fight, so I’m a poor replacement for him.” There is an extra bitterness to the last words.

Of course, Talon realises–between Cassiopeia’s condition and his own lack of blood connection… Katarina is in charge now. (How long has she been running the estate on her own? How much instruction had the General given her for these circumstances? There’s a twinge of guilt for not noticing, and Talon bites back a grimace.)

“You have no reason to stay if even you think he’s gone,” Katarina continues. “Why would you?”

Oh. Is that it? Talon sighs, bringing one of his legs up to rest his arms on his knee, crossing the other ankle over his foot. “The General told me to look after you,” he answers.

Katarina snorts. “He hasn’t told you that in years.” The last time was the night she got her scar. She may not know that, but Talon does.

He failed then. He will not fail now. He will not lose anyone else. “He never told me to stop.”

Her eyes flick towards his. Her brow furrows for a second, her expression morphing–confusion, mistrust, disbelief–and then all the tension runs out of her all at once. Katarina leans her forehead into his shoulder, slumping into him, a puppet with its strings cut. Her fingers clench in his shirt as she crumples. Katarina hides her face in his chest, constant shudders wracking her and she just starts sobbing.

Awkwardly, Talon folds an arm around her shoulders and holds her until she exhausts herself into an unsteady sleep.


End file.
